The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-11-26

Wv DNA SoOh5h' A'uN Wv ANNNA
BILE is great deal worse than that.
The dispute is one of long standing,
dating back to 1890, or perhaps to a
period even more remote than that.
The language of the original grant
of the territory of Maryland, granted
by Charles the First, to Lord Balti-
more. which fixes this line as follows:
Thence in a right by the degrees
aforesaid (40th degree) to the merid-
ian of the fountain of the Potomac"
From this language it is perfectly
clear that the boundary in question
was due North line from the source
or fountain of the Potomac. AT first
sight it would seem that there ought
to be no difficulty in correctly locat-
ing a due North line from the source
of the Potomac to Mason and Dix.
on's line, provided the beginning
point should be established and
agreed upon. But here was just
where the trouble commenced.
Maryland and Virginia could not
agree as to where the true fountain or
source of the Potomac was. Virgin
ia considered that point as definitely
fixed by the planting of the Fairfax
stone, which occurred in 1746. Mary
land, however. was not a party to
the proceedings under which the
point was ascertained. She contro-
yerted the binding effect of the de-
cision and held "that the South
Branch of the Potomac was the true
source of that river. it being the
longer and larger of the two streams.
Under the claim of Maryland the
counties of Mineral. Hardy, Grant,
Pendleton, Tucker and Preston, w.
Va. would have belonged to her.
About the year 1882 Maryland fled
bill in the United States Court to
enforce her claim to this vast terrific
ry. 1t was in that proceeding that
evidence was produced showing con.
clusivelY that the fountain of the
North Branch was the true source of
the Potomac river referred to, and
not the head of the South Branch as
Maryland claimed. Upon the pro-
duction of the evidence above refer
red to Maryland dismissed her bill
and abandoned her claim to the terri
tony lying west of the South Branch.
This action on the part of the State
of Maryland left but one question be-
tween the states, and that was as to
the true source or fountain of the
North Branch of the Potomac. This
remained disputed point until 1852,
when the Legislature of Maryland
passed an act recognizing the Fairfax
Stone as the beginning point and in.
vlted Virginia to appoint commits
sioners to run and mark the line so
long in dispute.
The State of Virginia, by an act of
its Legislature in 1858, appointed a
commissioner to act with commits.
sioner on the part of Maryland, and
in 1859 the line was located and mark-
ed. The line so run was ratified and
adopted by the State of Meryland by
an act of her legislature, passed on the
9Th of March, 1860. The State of
Virginia, however, never acted upon
the report of the commissioners. The
new line, as run in 1859, where it in
tersects the Pennsylvania line, is
about three quarters of mile west of
the old line. The old and new lines
begin at the same point. but diverge,
and in running their length, which is
about Sc miles, they get to be ABOUT
three-quarters of mile apart. Mary
land claims to the new line, and the
State of West Virginia, having been
formed since the passage of the act
of 1858, and not having ratified the
new line, claims to the old line.
The territory lying between these
two lines is claimed by both states
and each undertakes to exercise ju-
risdiction over the unhappy people
who live there. Taxes are exacted
upon them by both states, and the
counties on both sides require them
to work on the public roads, etc.
Some of the people vote in one State
and some of them in the other. l
have not heard of any who vote in
both states. Last May a case of as.
sault with intent to kill was tried in
our court where the offence charged
was committed whilst resisting an
arrest by the MARYLAND authorities
under the honest belief on the part of
the accused that he lived in West
Virginia. His residence was in the
disputed territory and our court de.
cided that the new line was the cor
rect boundary.
A grievous difficulty arises from
the fact that for nearly every farm or
tract of land between the two lines